Curry Coz you can !

Tag Archives: dinner

Just recently my musings seem to have drifted from the thing that is dear to my heart, that being the food,or more importantly the recipes. A particular joy for me are the recipes that create something very quickly that is memorable to the point where you think I will just have to make that again, or develop that. This is exactly that a development recipe, a work in progress so dont be surprised if you see it change.

The principle reason for this is that I love Mushroom and well it curries so well soaking up the herbs and spices that make its eartrhy flavour sing!

This particular dish is a joy for the vegetarians out there, full of flavour and texture I like to get a mix of different mushrooms where I can, as this can add an edge to an otherwise very simple dish serve it on a Naan of some description and it fits very nicely into that niche that is an easy after work dish that is filling satisfying and tasty

Serves 4

Ingredients

4cm (1½in) piece fresh ginger, peeled and chopped

100g (4oz) onions, peeled and chopped

3 garlic cloves, peeled and chopped

450g (1lb) large mushrooms

6 tablespoons vegetable oil

3 tablespoons natural yoghurt

1 teaspoon tomato purée

2 teaspoons ground coriander

¼ teaspoon salt –

¼ teaspoon chilli powder

2 tablespoons chopped green coriander

150ml veg stock, or water

Method

Step One Put the ginger, onion and garlic into the Pestle Mortar and pound them together until you have a smooth paste, if you wish to take the short cut you can use a blender, and if the paste is a little too thick add a tablespoon or two of water

Wash the mushrooms thoroughly cut them into halves or quarters and put them aside

Put 3 tablespoons of the oil in a non-stick frying pan and set over high heat. When the oil is hot stir fry the mushrooms for two or three minutes, or until the mushrooms no longer look raw

Empty the contents of the pan into a bowl. Wipe the pan.

Step Three Put the remaining oil into the pan and set over high heat. When hot, add the paste from the blender. Stir and fry for 3–4 minutes until it starts turning brown.

Add 1 tablespoon of the yoghurt and fry for 30 seconds.

Add another tablespoon of the yoghurt and fry for 30 seconds. Do this a third time.

Now add the tomato purée and fry for 30 seconds. Add the ground coriander and stir once or twice.

Now put in the veg stock, carefully avoiding flooding the gravy as this should be a lovely unctious consistency.

Now the mushrooms and their juices, salt and chilli powder. Stir and bring to a simmer. Turn the heat to low and simmer for 5 to 15 minutes or until the gravy reaches the consistency you like.

One of the great pleasures of curry for me is Sauce a truly rich curry well cooked with lashings of sauce that can be soaked up in the rice or naan and still have more to spare is perhaps one of my greatest joys and this recipe is just that saucy!

It will take an hour or so to cook and prepare and will serve 4 to 6 so get your chums round and enjoy this easy to cook and prepare curry explosion!

Ingredients

4 tabsp Veg oil

1tsp Black Mustard Seeds

1 Tsp Fenugreek Seeds

2 or 3 Red Kashmiri Chillies

3 medium Onions sliced

2 tbsp crushed fresh Ginger

2 tbsp crushed Garlic

2 sprigs Curry Leaves, or 10 to 15 dried

1 tbsp ground Turmeric

2 tsp red Chilli powder

4 Tomatoes roughly chopped

1 tbspTamarind paste

1Kg 2.25 Lb firm fish fillets skinned and cut into strips

1 Cup Coconut Cream

juice .5 Lemon

Salt to taste

Method

As usual heat the oil in a heavy pan over a medium heat,adding the Black Mustard seeds and wait for the crackle, that should be about a minute or so, Add the Fenugreek Seeds and stir fry until they turn light golden brown:Now the Red chillies whole, when the chillies turn that deep dark golden brown that only they can do, add the onions, saute for about a minute, adding the crushed Ginger and Garlic and cooking for a further 2 minutes, that should be enough time for them to release their flavours.

Now add the Curry leaves Turmeric and chilli Powder, season with salt and cook for a further 30 seconds or so!

Now is the time to add the chopped Tomatoes which will need about 5 minutes cooking time , or until they soften, adding in the Tamarind paste at this time, and giving it all a good stir

Now is the ti9me to add the fish fillets, now cover and cook on a low heat for 10-15 minutes or until the fish is cooked through, add the coconut cream, bring the whole dish up to serving temperature

This is a dish that could never be described as fast food, requiring firstly an overnight soak and then 6 plus hours on the stove, oh yeah on this patience is definately a virtue, but the pay off is a supreme Dal that is worth every second of the time required…

The word Makhani means with butter, and originates as does this dish from the Punjab; this dish is rich and creamy and a joy to eat, but maybe not so good on the Cholesterol front, although we are all entitled to a little bit of this and that of the sinful kind, as it makes the world go round so much more smoothly. You of course can compensate that Dal on the other hand is rich in Roughage and cabohydrate, and has a kick like a mule from the Tablespoon of Red chilli powder that courses through its veins.

its very easy to make but does require your attention you need to stir this a lot, especially from the point you add the Garlic & ginger, and will pretty much need to be stoveside for the next two hours . This is a labour of love and well worth it as the end result will prove!

Ingredients & Method

14oz(400g)whole Urad Dal, you can tell they are whole as they are black in colour

Rinsed and drained then soaked for at least 10 hours……overnight is a good idea

Then place it on the cooker pour 5.25 pints(3litres) water,add in a couple of tablespoons of cooking oi,l bring to the boil, and simmer for something around four hours or until the dal is soft and cooked.

Then put together the following ingredients, and add them to the dal, season with some salt

5 tsp Garlic paste

3.5tsp Ginger paste

tbsp Red Chilli Powder

Continue to cook for another hour mashing the dal as you go using a wooden spatula, and scraping away any dal that is sticking to the edge of the pan!

Now add 3 medium purreed tomatoes and continue to cook mashing and scraping for another hour or so.

Now add about 150g of unsalted butter into the mix, continuing to scrape and mash as you go.

Finally stir in 4.5 fl oz(125ml) of single cream remove from the heat garnish and serve… at last!

This is a pure joy vegetarian main course, not an accompaniment to have with something else this is a dish best eaten on its own.

its low on the Chilli count and high high on complimentary flavours that blend together, loads of texture colour and an explosion of taste, even though Paneer for me is a bland tasteless form of cheese that my taste buds always expect more of. This dish supports that Paneer so well, and for the vegetarians amongst us brings great texture to the dish

Lots of ingredients, however as with a lot of Indian cookery and all of the time needed in getting this dish to the table is in the prep, and not the cooking!

Ingredients

4 Tbsp Ghee or Vegetable oil

1 tsp Black Cumin Seeds

4 Spring Onions(Scallions)chopped and trimmed

4 tsp Ginger Paste

4 tsp Garlic Paste

1 tsp Red Chilli Powder

2 Cups (1lb 2oz)500gm Chopped Tomatoes

3 cups(7oz) 200gm Button (White) Mushrooms Sliced

1 Green Pepper deseeded and sliced thinly

1 Red Pepper deseeded and sliced thinly

1 Yellow Pepper deseeded and sliced thinly

1 lb (450gm) Paneer cubed ( 1cm) .5inch cubes

1tsp Ground black Pepper roasted

Generous pinch of ground Green Cardamon

Generous pinch of ground Cloves

Generous pinch of ground Fenugreek

Generous pinch of ground Black Rock Salt

1inch(2.5cm) fresh Ginger peeled and cut into Juliennes

handful chopped Coriander (Cilantro)

Method

Over a medium heat warm up the Ghee or oil and add the cum in seeds and stir fry for about 30 seconds, or until they start to splutter.

Add the Spring onions and continue to fry for a further 1 or two minutes until light golden.

Add the Ginger and Garlic pastes and stir fry for a few seconds longer, then add the Chilli powder, continue to stir then add the tomatoes and cook for another 2 or 3 minutes…

Add the Mushrooms to the pan and continue to cook for another 3 or 4 minutes or until the mushroom moisture or liquor has evaporated, now add the Red Yellow and Green Peppers , salt, stir frying for a further minute or two, then add the roasted black pepper, the remaining ground spices and the ginger juliennes.

Stir well and remove from the heat and adjust the seasoning , and garnish with chopped Coriander…

It is never my intention to do Indian Restaurant dishes and this is certainly one that you will find on the average menu that said that is where the similarity ends. It will taste nothing like or come to that look anything like the “Daag” based dish you get at the local take away or Restaurant.

This dish is not a dish for the faint hearted with Dopiaza meaning “Double Onions” in that the onions, and there are five of them( that’s what I said five ) are added in two different ways , ground raw onion paste, and fried so if you’re an onion lover this is definitely the dish for you..

Lover is the right word too as onions have long been considered an Aphrodisiac and the Arabic book The Perfumed Garden of Sensual Delight and the author one Abu-el Heiloukh ate lots of onions and suggests he remained rampant for 30 days. 🙂

Throw away the Viagra then, onions is all a man needs!

That said this dish is powerful on both flavours and textures and is second to none in the best of indian it is exacty as it says on the label !

Ingredients

2 Onions Roughly chopped

3 Onions Finely sliced

4 Garlic cloves

2 inches(5cm) Ginger Roughly chopped

3 Green Chillies

6 tbsp Ghee or Vegetable oil.

6 Cloves

8 Green Cardomons Crushed

2 tsp cumin Seeds

1 tsp Crushed Peppercorns

2 Sprigs of Fresh Curry leaves, or 12 dried leaves

800g Lamb in 5 Cm Cubes

.25 tsp Turmeric

1 tsp ground Cumin

1 tsp ground Coriander

200g Yoghurt lightly whisked

2 tsp Garam Masala

pinch Asafoetida

1or 2 Tsp red chilli powder

salt to taste

2 tbsp chopped Boriander

Method

The first thing to do here is create the onion paste by blending the rough chopped onion,garlic, ginger, and chillies together in a food processor, or pestle and mortar, whatever is your choice adding a little water to bring it together as a smooth paste.

creating the onion paste

In a heavy based pan heat the Ghee or oil over a medium heat , and then fry off the sliced Onions, until they are golden brown; at that point remove them from the pan using a slotted spoon and put them aside to drain on some kitchen paper. return the ghee to the heat, add the Cloves, Asafoetida, Cardamon, Curry leaves, Peppercorns and Cumin seeds, fry until they begin to splutter and then add the onion paste.

Reduce the heat slightly and fry stirring constantly for five to seven minutes making sure that the mixture does not brown

Fry the paste keeping the colour

Increase the heat and then add the meat, browning it all over, then add the Turmeric , ground Cumin, and Coriander. Continue to stir fry for a few minutes , taking care to ensure the mixture doesn’t stick , if it does just add a little water and continue to stir fry.

Now is the time to add those fried onions reserving a few for garnish .

Continue to stir fry for a few minutes more then fold in the yoghurt with 1 Tsp of Garam Masala.

Mix it all thoroughly and continue to cook stirring all the time, add in 250 ml of water bring to the boil, reduce the heat and simmer for about 45 minutes or until the meat is tender…..

Cook for 45 minutes

Check your chilli heat through this time, and feel free to add a spoonfull or two of red chilli powder as is your want, and dont take your eye off of it for too long as it has a thick sauce that can and will stick if you give it a chance that said if you wish to add a little more water to the gravy then do so.

This is one of my most favourite dishes in that you make a sauce before a prawn goes anywhere near it , and although this recipe calls for prawn which go in peeled and raw you could use any fish, or maybe even some Chicken!

This is just a cracking sauce that tastes fantastic whatever you might choose to put with it, spicey hot with loads of chilli, or none at all it ticks all the boxes and if I wa only ever to have one sauce it would be this one.

This dish originates from Kerala where a lot of the dishes I “Like a lot” come from, and am due to visit in February of the new year!

Ingredients

14floz(400ml) Coconut milk

2 Tbsp Desicated or fresh coconut, soaked in a little warm water

1 Tbsp Tamarind Pulp

3Tbsp Oil

.25 tsp Mustard Seeds

15 -20 Curry Leaves

1 large Onion Sliced

1 inch squre Ginger Grated

3 Cloves Garlic

4 Green Chillies deseeded and slit lenthways

1 Kashniri Dried Red Chilli

1 tsp Chilli Powder

.5 Tsp Turmeric

.5 tsp Coriander powder

.5 tsp Cumin Powder

2 medium finely chopped tomatoes

.5 tsp Salt

300g(11oz) uncooked peeled prawns

2 Tbsp Ghee

2 Shallots

Method

First things first , fry off the Mustard seeds until they are popping all over your cooker top, add the Curry leaves, and after a few seconds of allowing their flavour into the oil, add the sliced Onions and saute, stirring continuosly for 5 to 7 minutes, add the Ginger,Garlic and Green Chillies, and stir fry for a further two or three minutes, add the dried Red Chilli and the Chilli Powder, Turmeric, Coriander and Cumin powders, add a couple of teaspoons of water stirring for a couple of minutes longer.

Add the chopped Tomatoes, 100ml of water, and the Tamarind pulp, turn the heat down and allow to simmer for a further 5 minutes. Season with salt to taste…

Now add the solid cream from the Coconut Milk and continue to cook the sauce adding a little of the coconut water from the tin and reducing the sauce to a consistency that you feel is right for you

What you now have in front of you now is the finished sauce and its make your mind up time. Personally I like my sauce a little smoother than this so I allow to cool and either use a hand blender to smooth it down or pour it into the processor and blitz it for a few moments. At this point you can return to the heat bring up to a simmering heat and reduce the sauce for a further 5 to 10 minutes adding the Prawns for the last couple of minutes, as that is all they will take to cook!

To add the final touch to this fine curry and raise it to the heavens, heat the Ghee on a high heat in a ladle or small saucepan,add the sliced Shallots, wait for a few seconds and then add a few Curry leaves, cook for a minute or two more, and pour over the top of the curry just before serving .

Interesting Breakfast/Supper for those with the will to open their minds and hearts to the most delicious alternative to the humble Scrambled egg.

Really delicious with a little fish or Smoked Salmon on the side…or come to that anything else that takes your fancy!

I really love this dish and cook it often its simplicity and its flavours make it a great dish for getting the palate to dance for a while and after a Saturday night out on the lager it is just the ticket to settle the stomach and make the world seem that little less fuzzy?

AQlternatively a great dish if you really can’t be arsed to cook and want something tasty and fast!

Ingredients

2 Tablespoons Vegetable oil

2 Small onions sliced

2 small tomatoes finely chopped

3 Green Chillies deseeded and chopped

.5 tsp Ground Turmeric

.5 tsp Chilli Powder

.25 tsp Ginger Paste

.25 tsp Garlic Paste

6 Eggs well beaten

1 tbsp Ghee or Butter

.5 bunch Coriander

Method

Heat the oil in a frying pan over a medium heat , add the onions and fry for about 5 to 7 minutes, or until golden brown.

Reduce the heat , add the tomatoes, chillies, ground spices and the ginger and garlic pastes, and stir together over a low heat.

cook this mixture out until the toms have softened and the liquid has evaporated…..

Beat the eggs in a bowl and add them to the melted butter or ghee in another pan over a low heat, chuck in the corianderleaves, season with salt and reduce the heat to low……

Cook the eggs until they begin to reach a nearly solid state , or as near scrambled as you like them, but they should still be moist .

Add the onion and tomato mixture and finish off the eggs to the scrambled consistency you enjoy.

Serve with some hot buttered toast, a naan, or anything else that you enjoy with your scrambled egg!